People surfing for media files on The Pirate Bay download site would be well-advised to heed the words of Admiral Ackbar from Return of the Jedi: It’s a trap!

Some pretty strong evidence has come to light that one of the most notorious copyright troll operations in the U.S. targeted The Pirate Bay with a honeypot operation, a trap set to detect unauthorized use of copyrighted files. According to Torrent Freak, an attorney associated with Prenda Law shares the same Internet Protocol address as Sharkmp4, a user and prolific uploader on the world’s most notorious torrent tracker.

Sharkmp4 has uploaded more than 40 pornographic videos to TPB since February 2011. Those same clips were then used in copyright infringement suits. How many of Prenda Law’s cases were based on the honeypot is unclear. But in an ongoing copyright case in Georgia, at least one man is being sued over a movie first uploaded to the TPB by Sharkmp4.

Copy bounty

Prenda Law are a well-known group of copyright bounty hunters that file so-called John Doe lawsuits against anonymous torrent downloaders based on their IP addresses. It then requests that the court force Internet Service Providers to hand over the identities of the account holders behind the IP addresses. With alleged copyright infringer’s names and addresses in hand, the law firm persuades people to settle out of court or face the threat of a significant lawsuit.

These copyright crusaders are also no angels themselves. Beyond setting honeypots, Prenda Law has recently seen its own share of legal troubles. In May, the group of lawyers were sanctioned by a judge in California for filing fraudulent copyright infringement cases and ordered to pay more than $80,000 in attorney’s fees, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Earlier in August, under further pressure due to its bad behavior, Prenda Law voluntarily dissolved after posting more than $237,000 in bonds, according to The National Law Journal (login required).

Data collection

Another interesting point in the case is that The Pirate Bay played a part in exposing Prenda Law by revealing the IP addresses of Sharkmp4. Known as a site overly concerned with privacy, TPB is supposed to wipe all its IP address information after 48 hours. Last October, the site told Torrent Freak it even took extra measures to protect user privacy by storing all IP addresses in RAM. That way if a server was ever stolen or seized by authorities it would be much harder to extract user data.

But like any other site, TPB also keeps backups of its site, which is where Sharkmp4’s IP address history came from. Whether it’s to battle spammers or to track site analytics, numerous sites around the Web store IP addresses for an unspecified period of time.

So the Pirate Bay’s IP address store is just another reminder that you can’t rely on the good graces of your favorite websites to protect your privacy online. Anyone looking to go as private as possible should look into a VPN provider or start using the Tor network to get around the Web.

Ian is an independent writer based in Israel who has never met a tech subject he didn't like. He primarily covers Windows, PC and gaming hardware, video and music streaming services, social networks, and browsers. When he's not covering the news he's working on how-to tips for PC users, or tuning his eGPU setup.